It’s
just been announced that the BART police officer, Johannes Mehserle, who stood
over 22-year-old Oscar Grant, as he lay face down on a BART platform at 2 a.m.
New Year’s with dozens of other passengers watching and, thankfully, recording
with their cell phones, and shot him point blank in the back, has been arrested
in Nevada. The DA in Oakland
had finally issued a warrant.

It took nearly two weeks to charge the killer of Oscar Grant, unarmed father of
a 4-year-old daughter, but the 105 protesters arrested last Wednesday, Jan. 7,
during the rebellion that lit up Oakland with the rage of young people
demanding an end to police terrorism and officials’ silence and complicity were
charged immediately. Of the three or four charged with felonies that night, the
only journalist was our own Minister of Information JR, accused of felony
arson. The charge is bogus: He lit no fire; he was there with his community,
photographing and reporting on their righteous fury. The police, who know him
well as their most outspoken critic, confiscated his camera.

He’s out of jail now, and this is his story, just posted at www.sfbayview.com and www.blockreportradio.com. Get
involved - JR’s story will tell you how, and more events are listed in the Bay
View’s online calendar - and check sfbayview.com for several other stories and
videos on the execution of Oscar Grant; more (on this and countless other topics)
are being posted daily. If you like them, digg ‘em or use one of the other
icons at the end of the story to tell the world; and join the conversation in
the comments section.

Only
when Oakland’s rage over the
execution of Oscar Grant broke out into a full rebellion on Wednesday, Jan. 7,
did authorities, after nearly a week of silence, take this police murder
seriously. Still, Oakland youth
took the brunt as police used military equipment such as this tank-like hummer
to put down the rebellion – while Mayor Ron Dellums promised police restraint.
– Photo: Brooke Anderson, IndyBay

During
the first Wednesday of 2009, downtown Oakland was physically rocked by the
justified fury that the rebellions brought out in response to the police
killing of 22-year-old unarmed Black male Oscar Grant, who was fatally shot at
the Fruitvale BART station while he was face down, being restrained by two
officers, in front of dozens of witnesses New Year’s morning.

For me, that day of protesting
started at the Fruitvale BART station with a peaceful rally that was organized
by members of the Bay Area’s activist community. Speakers included Crea Gomez,
a community non-profit advocate, local rappers like Zion of Zion I and Mistah
FAB, as well as concerned community members like myself who were appalled at
the police murder. I was there as a member of the Black community demanding
justice for the police murder of Oscar Grant, as well as I was in attendance as
a journalist on assignment.

When
I arrived a little bit after the protest started, I witnessed at least 200-300
people who were demanding justice for Oscar Grant’s family at the BART station.
BART had shut down the station so that it would slow the pace of protesters who
could have used the BART to get to the rally but had to rely on Oakland’s
slow ass bus system to make their voices heard. People of all nationalities,
ages, classes and religions were chanting angry slogans led by the speakers: “Fuck
the police!” “No justice, no peace!” “Justice for Oscar Grant!”

One of the things that struck me
most about this rally was the fact that it was so many people who were moved to
protest in East Oakland, which is rare during a workday.
The question that I asked on the microphone when it was my turn to speak was,
“Why didn’t people come out when Bay Area police officers murdered unarmed
Terrence Mearis, unarmed Casper Banjo, unarmed Anita Gaye, unarmed Gary King,
unarmed Gus Rugley, unarmed Cammerin Boyd, unarmed Idriss Stelley or when the
police terrorized 15-year-old unarmed Laronte Studesville, unarmed Randy Murphy
or unarmed Nadra Foster? Is it because these cases were not caught on camera?”

These
children, a racial cross-section of Oakland,
seem determined to stop the police’ open season on young men of color before
it’s their turn. The sign on the left reads, “Sunset 2008-90 RIP Oscar Grant
III, Casper Banjo, Jose Luis Buenrostro, Jody Woodfox, Gary King Jr., Andrew
Moppin and others at the hands of Oakland
police.” – Photo: Demondre Ward

It
seemed to me that people have to see police atrocities on television to believe
that they happen in the Black community, when young Black males in the Bay Area
and all over the country know from experience that the police have a legal
license to kill you, severely beat you or frame you with no repercussions. An
example of this is the Oscar Grant case, where he was unarmed and shot point
blank, while being restrained by two officers and surrounded by at least three
more, yet no one was charged with murder, manslaughter or as an accessory to
murder. After a few hours, this demonstration ended peacefully, with the
remaining protesters marching to downtown Oakland.

I left and went and hung out with
some of my friends that were at the Fruitvale BART protest. About an hour
later, I got a call telling me that I needed to cover what was going on in the
streets of downtown. When I got there, I saw dozens of police in a huge circle
on 14th and Broadway, occupying the intersection in front of City Hall. The Oakland
hummer, the tank-like armored vehicle that was shown on the news, had just
shown up.

On one block, the militant
activists were shouting slogans face to face with police. Behind them, a few
bands broken up into racial groups were smashing car windshields and
storefronts on 14th, using their feet and their skateboards. Many of the white
protesters, who had their faces covered up, were involved in setting cars on
fire. I was photographing this historic time, where the people’s patience ran
short on city officials, including the mayor, who refused to indict any of the
officers involved.

Since this day, I have seen many
reports talking about white invaders taking over the rebellion, which is b.s.
Yes, they played a part, but so did everyone else. They didn’t take over
anything, and the Black, Brown and Asian youth involved were taking leadership
from themselves, not the white people.

After
the peaceful though spirited rally at the Fruitvale BART station on Wednesday,
Jan. 7, protesters marched downtown, where they were met by walls of police in
riot gear, sparking a rebellion that forced the powers that be to recognize the
rage stirred up by the New Year’s execution of Oscar Grant and official Oakland’s
complicity by silence. – Photo: Demondre Ward

I’ve
also heard some criticisms of the rebels, because of the fact that they tore up
innocent people’s property. But the reality is that the peaceful protest
outside of Fruitvale BART as well as the meeting of ministers, reverends and
local politicians that took place that morning demanding an explanation from
the D.A. did not put the mayor, police and city officials on notice nor did
those actions have the energy behind them to make the police execution of Oscar
Grant a national story.

The rebellion did. As a matter of
fact, during the rebellion, Mayor Dellums had a secret meeting with many of
these suit-types, then proceeded to walk through the rebellion like Black
Jesus, with about 50 primarily Black people in suits following him across
Broadway to City Hall, where he held a press conference. Needless to say, the
protesters he was talking to demanded that he indict all of the officers
involved, but the mayor clouded the issue with words like “respect” and
“civility” while the city was burning and being trashed in the backdrop due to
his negligence in dealing with a police force that has a notorious history of
terrorism in the Black community - as if it had not been police who shot an
unarmed Black man, Oscar Grant, a week prior.

“This
guy was walking with a group of friends about a half block past McDonald’s on
14th when police targeted just him and chased him in a circle back around the
McDonald’s. He then ran across the street and once he saw there were cops
running at him from both sides, he just stopped and stood there. Cops pushed
him down and immediately began tasering him as he lay there not resisting. They
may have tasered him for close to a full minute. Since when did using tasers
become a standard part of handcuffing someone?” writes the photographer. –
Photo: David Id, IndyBay

Once
the mayor was booed and run off from his press conference, Round 2 of the
rebellion began, claiming Broadway and 17th. This was at about 9
p.m. The Oakland police
escalated their attacks on protesters by six or seven of them at one time
breaking ranks from the other dozens of officers they were originally standing
with to tackle and arrest anyone in the vicinity. Another tactic utilized by
the OPD was to roll up to an intersection in a hummer with about 10 pigs
hanging off of it, and the cops would jump off, brutally arresting everyone in
reach.

I was arrested in front of the RonDellumsFederalBuilding,
after at least two officers broke out running after me for no reason, tackled
me to the cement, injuring my left leg, and bouncing my camera off of the
ground. I was charged with the trumped up charge of felony arson. Luckily, a
few legal observers from the National Lawyers Guild saw the whole episode.

After I was arrested and in the
paddy wagon, I heard a dispatcher say that the police needed to confiscate all
cameras and camera phones from arrestees, which they did, so that they could use
this info as evidence in different cases. To add to their reasoning, they also
wanted to cover up and slow down the amount of information that could be
posted, broadcast and published that was live from the street rebellion in
Oakland, where protesters were being routinely roughed up and beaten by the
Oakland police, while the mayor, who was on the scene, refused to act in this
case, as well as in the case of Oscar Grant. A week later, I still don’t have
my camera, which I use daily to bring in an income to support myself and feed
my family.

When I got locked up, the
solidarity was amazing. Blacks, Latinos, Asians and whites were in NorthCounty being booked on misdemeanor
charges like “inciting a riot,” “vandalism” and “failure to disperse.” I was reportedly
one of three or four who were charged with a felony directly related to the
case. A guy that I got booked into Santa Rita with, a Black Puerto Rican, was
charged with “felony vandalism.”

Now
the truth of the matter is that most people arrested were cited out, but the
felony charges were saved for Blacks and Latinos. Me and the brotha were the
only ones on our bus to Santa Rita who had to put on the “Yellows,” which
represent violent inmates, while the rest of the people on the bus with us put
on “Blues,” which designate a prisoner as general population.

Behind enemy lines, the inmates at
Santa Rita put their fists in the air, smiled, cheered and gave us dap when we
told them that we were being held captive because we were in the streets during
the rebellion. Mexicans were congratulating Blacks, Blacks were congratulating
whites, Norteńos (a Latino street
organization) were congratulating Bloods (a Southern Cali street organization),
who are their rivals, for their participation in fighting the police and the
city for justice against police terrorism.

When it is all said and done, I’m
proud of Oakland people in general
and youngstas specifically for standing up to the occupying army in our
community: the police and the city officials that support the system that lets
the police kill us wantonly. Like what was being said in the streets of the
rebellion, “Oscar Grant is not Sean Bell, and New York
is not Oakland.” In other words, we
are not just taking this police murder sitting down, like other big cities have
in recent years.

I’m proud of Oakland
people in general and youngstas specifically for standing up to the occupying
army in our community: the police and the city officials that support the
system that lets the police kill us wantonly.

The rebellion was just the
beginning of a longer political education class in Amerikkkan politics and how
it fails to meet the needs of its Black and Brown low income dwellers. I will
continue to cover how the cops who were involved in the shooting of Oscar Grant
are handled by the city, how the protesters who caught charges in the rebellion
are handled, as well as see how the police are handled after they were brutally
beating people up, framing people at the rebellion and stealing their cameras
and telephones without warrants to build cases against people.

Don’t miss these upcoming events

The arrested protesters’ next
hearing is this Friday, Jan. 16, 9 a.m.,
in Department 112 of the Wiley M. Manuel Courthouse, 661
Washington St. in downtown Oakland.
Strong support from the community will help win justice for Oscar Grant and for
the protesters.

You could hear from the family of
Oscar Grant and from protesters, community leaders and artists at the “Town
Bizness Townhall Meeting - Against Police Terrorism” on Friday, Jan. 23, at the
legendary Black Dot Café, 1195 Pine St.
in West Oakland at 6 p.m.
It is free. All are invited. For more information, you could hit up www.blockreportradio.com and www.sfbayview.com.

Thanks to the generous support of
Black Repertory Group Theater producer Sean Vaughn Scott, the matinee
performance of Ntozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide
When the Rainbow is Enuf” on Saturday, Feb. 7, will benefit my legal defense
fund and Block Report Radio. Doors will open at noon
for a talk by Prisoners of Conscience Committee Chairman Fred Hampton Jr., and
the play will follow.

Meanwhile, here’s what you can do

Demand that the police involved in
the execution of Oscar Grant be charged and that the trumped up charges against
JR Valrey and all the other arrested protesters be dropped immediately. Call,
mail, fax or email:

Also, all who can are urged to
offer your financial support to Minister of Information JR for his legal
defense and to replace his camera by donating online at www.SFBayView.com. You can also donate by
credit card by calling the Bay View at (415) 671-0789 or you can mail your
donation to SF Bay View, 4917 Third St., San
FranciscoCA94124.

Finally, some very good news from the wonderful doctor who restored my sight:
“In the spirit of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and in support of the ‘new
America’ vision of President Barack Obama, we are opening our office for free
eyecare and examinations on Monday, Jan. 19, 2009, from 9am-5pm. Please call
now to reserve a space. A. Sydney Williams MD, 45 Castro #318, San Francisco, CA 94114, (415)
431-9555.” Please spread the word.